1 The integration of Somali immigrants in Sweden.
Name: Abdifatah Ali
Tutor: Lennart Wohlgemuth
Examiner: Anders Nilsson
Department: Social Science, Peace and
Development studies
Course code: 2FU31E
Study Level: Bachelor Thesis
2 Abstract.
The number of immigrants coming from Somalia is presently more than 40 000 and has increased especially between the years 2000 and 2012(OSF: 2014). It is therefore important that these immigrants and the ones that are coming to this country get integrated. Somalis are the least integrated immigrant group in Sweden (Ibid: 2014). The Somalis that live in Sweden have difficulties to integrate to the Swedish society and this study will discuss the issues and understand the problems of lack of integration among the Somali community in Sweden. This is a qualitative field study and the researcher has interviewed a number of people to make this study possible. The main objective of this study is to understand the obstacles of the Somali integration into the Swedish society at micro-level. The information that is collected through this academic research will hopefully be useful and contribute to the current debate within this subject. The informants of the non-integrated group that have been interviewed have expressed their experience of the lack of integration and what is needed in order to increase integration. Formal and informal factors of obstacles of integration have been covered in this study. The result shows that Somalis that are segregated mostly live in a segregated area of the city the majority of people that live there are foreigners and school segregation is another issue of the integration. Social networks and having Swedish friends are the main characteristics which leads the immigrants to integrate into the Swedish society, which was highlighted clearly in this study.
Keywords: Integration, Somali immigrants in Sweden, Cultural integration, social power, discrimination, (Dis) Empowerment model.
3 Acknowledgements
I want to give thanks to my tutor Lennart Wohgemuth who has guided me throughout this process of writing my thesis.
I would also give thanks to my family and friends who gave me moral support and inspired me to complete my thesis and without their support I could not have managed to do this thesis. Lastly, I want to give thanks to my teachers in Peace and Development for their support and the interviewees that decided to be part of my study.
4 Table of Contents Abstract. ... 2 Acknowledgements ... 3 List of Abbreviations ... 6 I. Introduction ... 7
1.1 Background and research topic. ... 7
1.2 Research problem ... 8
1.3 Objective ... 9
1.4 Research questions ... 9
1.5 Methodological framework ... 10
1.6 Limitations and delimitations ... 10
1.7 Structure of the Thesis. ... 11
2. Descriptions of the terms, the theoretical framework and literature review. ... 12
2.1 Description of the terms ... 12
2.1.1 Migration ... 12 2.1.2 Integration ... 12 2.1.3Cultural integration ... 14 2.1.4 Segregation. ... 14 2.1.5 Discrimination. ... 14 2.2 Literature review ... 15 2.3 Relevance... 17 2.4 Analytical framework ... 17 3- Methodological framework. ... 20 3.1 Methodology ... 20
3.2 Methods and technique ... 21
3.3 Semi- structured interviews. ... 22
3.4 Example of informants ... 22
3.5 The process of the interviews to grasp the primary empirical data. ... 23
3.6 Ethical considerations ... 24
3.7 Coding and analysis of the outcomes. ... 24
3.8 Validity and Reliability of this study. ... 25
3.9 Criticism of the sources. ... 25
4. Findings ... 27
4.1 Education... 27
4.2 Validation of documents ... 28
4.3 Welfare system ... 29
4.4 Culture ... 30
4.5 Housing segregation and school segregation ... 31
4.6 Attitudes of the Swedish society towards Somali immigrants. ... 32
4.7 Conclusion of the findings. ... 33
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5.1 Analysis of the findings with the help of the analytical framework. ... 35
5.1 Summary of the Analysis ... 41
6. Conclusion ... 43 7-Bibliography ... 45 7.1 Printed sources ... 45 7.2 Online sources. ... 45 8- Appendix ... 49 8.1 Interview Guide. ... 49 8.2 Participants ... 50
8.2.1 Group A (works in Swedish governmental organizations) ... 50
8.2.2 Group B (integrated) ... 50
6 List OF Abbreviations
AF- Arbetsförmedlingen (Employment Agency)
ERCOMER- European Research Centre on migration and Ethnic Relations NSF-National Science Foundation
OECD- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OSF- Open Society Foundations
SCB- Statisk centralbyrå
SFI-Svenska för invandrare (Swedish for immigrants) UK- United Kingdom
USA- United States of America
7 I. Introduction
1.1 Background and research topic.
Integration is defined by, how well people of different genders, ethnic backgrounds and origins are involved in a community in terms of having a job or being part of social activities. Being involved in a society is a human right that everyone is entitled to. Integration is further explained when the immigrant has access to education, work and lives as the native, at the same time retaining his/her culture and language (Länstyrelserna: 2016) and this is a basic requirement for a successful integration. Integration is and has been a controversial topic especially at the moment when Sweden welcomed so many immigrants in recent years. Somali immigrants have been coming to Sweden since the early 90s after the civil war started in Somalia (Fagioli-Ndlovu, 2015, 17). They often struggle coming to a country such as Sweden with a very different systems of government and society compared to Somalia (OPS: 2014). Due to government collapse in Somalia so many Somali people have ending up without any formal education, which has resulted in a great number of illiterate Somali people. A large number of those ended up coming to Sweden. This is a major problem since Sweden’s employment market requires high levels of education in order to get a job (Osman et al. 2013).
Swedish government policies for integration determine clearly that everyone has the same rights, obligations and opportunities. (Regering: 2015). But unfortunately that is not necessarily the case in practice and particularly for Somalis. It seems that they lack so many of these opportunities (access to higher education and job opportunities) in becoming part of the society. In 2011 The Swedish Statistics Agency noted that around 40,200 people of Somali origin resided in Sweden (SCB: 2013). Most of these Somalis came to Sweden in the past four years. At the end of 1990 only 10%of the Somali population had a paid job in Sweden, which is quite shocking compared to numbers of Somali people that resided in Sweden at that time. Benny Carlson (2012), who has been engaged in studying the plight of Somalis in Sweden for many years, argues that one cannot compare a highly industrialized-developed country such as Sweden with a least industrialized-developed country in Africa (Carlson& et al, 2012, 26).Carlson and his co-authors argue that there are two factors that play a great role in an immigrant’s integration into Swedish society. These factors are education and how long the person has lived in Sweden. If the person has a higher education and has lived in the
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country for a long time, the person has a great opportunity for entering the labour market. Around 70% of Somalis that live in Sweden have either low or unknown education, which is an important factor that hinders them to be more integrated into the Swedish society (Carlson& et al, 2012, 30).
This topic is relevant for research because it can produce numerous clarifications and critical analysis in peace and development. For instance Castles and Millers (2014) argue that the more globalized world we live in today has contributed to a lot of migration. Migration can be classified as forced and not forced migration. The Somali group has been forced by factors including war, conflicts, and torture and seeking for protection and thus falling in the first category. Castle and Millers mentioned in their book “settlers are often distinct from the receiving populations: they may come from different types of societies (for example, agrarian-rural rather than urban-industrial) with different traditions, religions and political institutions” (Castle and Millers: 2014:14). In this case this can be a hinder as well for the Somali group coming from agrarian rural setting having different outlooks, speaking different language and practicing a different culture than the locals would make it difficult for them to come into the Swedish society. Segregation/exclusion will not benefit anyone both the natives and immigrants, Sweden has faced several car burnings and rioting in 2013 which was explained as the consequence of lack of integration especially the youth immigrants (Somers: 2013).
1.2 Research problem
The topic of this research paper is integration, especially Somalis integration in Sweden. Integration is an important subject in Sweden as it is the second largest country in the EU when it comes to number of immigrants and integration therefore becomes very important for the Swedish government and society. This research focuses on Somali immigrants that live in Sweden. The research problem is to find out why the Somali immigrants fall behind in integration compared to their fellow immigrants. Somalis seem to stick out compared to other immigrants (Carlson, 2012). When such a large group in the society is not included this will lead to serious consequences such as criminal gangs, drugs, violence (burning cars) etc. Integration is important for Sweden in order to avoid conflicts that we have seen in Stockholm three years ago and to avoid segregation in general (Blomst, 2014).
9 1.3 Objective
The objective of this research is to provide a good understanding of Somali immigrant’s integration and non-integration in Sweden and the reason why they fall behind and even discuss other concrete factors that can give a broader explanation. The point of departure is to look into the difficulties that the Somalis have or face in order to tackle the obstacles of integration. In order to do so the paper will comprehend with relevant earlier research and further produce the gap between in earlier literatures or researches within this subject. The most relevant earlier research has focused on comparison on Somalis that live here in Sweden with those that live in for instance in United Kingdom and the United States. This paper will rather focus on the micro-level analysis (Somalis own perception and experience on integration) on Somalis that live in Sweden and try to understand from their perspective what the problems are they meet. The study focuses specifically on the Somalis that live in Växjö to see the academic reality on Somali being the least integrated group mentioned by previous researches. The study is checking if there is something to the story that claims that Somali are the least integrated group in Sweden as Växjö been the sample of this study, since interviewees are from Växjö.
1.4 Research questions
In order to meet this objective this academic research paper will follow several research questions that will be useful for the topic and the research problem.
The research questions are
How can having good access to different social powers (defensible life space, knowledge and skills etc.) enhance integration process?
Are all bases of social power a pre-requirement for integration into Swedish society? What factors in Swedish reception integration system can hinder or affluent Somalis
integration into Swedish society?
It is very important that the questions can be answered in this research paper in order to provide explanatory factors for why Somalis are the least integrated immigrant’s in Sweden.
10 1.5 Methodological framework
This paper is going to apply an analytical framework in order to analyse the topic by using an abductive method. Furthermore this study is going to be a qualitative field study. In order to answer the research questions interviews will be the main method of data collection, complemented by using relevant articles (relevant literature). Since the research is a field study interviews will be conducted. The numbers will be 12 people in order to provide relevant information. The reason why the author chose 12 people is in order to divide the group into three categories those are integrated, those who not integrated and those who work integration with different organizations. Interviews were conducted with different people such as women, men and young adults (both boys and girls). Interviews were also conducted with people who work in organizations that are involved in integration such as Växjö Municipality and the Swedish employment agency. In doing so it will help the researcher answer the research questions and will touch upon different issues and will provide a broader picture of the topic.
The analytical framework is very important for this academic paper in order to analyse the findings and to help set the interview questions and grasp relevant information concerned this subject. The theoretical framework that will be applied is the (dis) empowerment model by John Friedmann and its eight bases of social power (Friedmann 1992).
1.6 Limitations and delimitations
One of the limitations with this study is finding all the people who are needed or all the focus group. It is a challenge since is it not easy to find all the members in the target group that are willing to stand up for interviews. The author interviewed people in Växjö and therefore was not easy to find the target group that are willing to be interviewed. Another limitation can be a lack of relevant current academic literature on this topic. When it comes to delimitations the author will not be looking at other immigrant’s integration but rather will focus on the target group which is the Somali community in Sweden. The researcher has lived in Sweden quite enough time and is well integrated into Swedish society but had some challenges along the way but managed still to come into Swedish society. The author is undergraduate student in this case not a professional qualitative research or neither an integration expert which will limit information with respect to the subject of discussion. Another limitation is that the sample of the interviews are limited due to the time limit of the study, this means that the
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interviewed do not represent all the Somali immigrants in Sweden rather than just a small sample that was conducted. It is therefore not possible to generalise too much from this study. 1.7 Structure of the Thesis.
The first chapter of this academic research paper produces the agenda of the research, research questions, the limitation and delimitations and ethical considerations. Further the chapter introduces of the methods of the empirical data and produces the theoretical framework, which will be used in the analysis. The second part of this thesis will introduce significant terms that will be used in this academic paper and the theoretical framework. Within this part of the thesis a literature review will be presented since it is important to cover relevant and previous literature within this subject. And also this part will deliver the research gap within this subject. The third chapter will cover the methodological part of this paper how interviews are done the methods etc. This part will also include an analysis and coding of the findings. Examples of the interviews will be presented here as well. The fourth chapter of this academic paper will present the respondents of the target group and the organizations that were included in this process will be mentioned here. The fifth chapter of this paper will provide the analysis of the outcomes of the research with the help of the theoretical framework and measure the research’s contribution to the topic. The last chapter of this paper will cover the final observations of the topic and conclusions.
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2. Descriptions of the terms, the theoretical framework and literature review.
2.1 Description of the terms
The questions of migration and integration are frequently discussed in Sweden. Debates between and within the eight political parties about these subjects are common and the political parties often come up with comprehensive ideas on how to make migration and integration better. The ruling parties recently presented a strategy to cut the numbers of refugees that are seeking asylum in this country. A temporary solution was enacted including ID-controls at the border between Sweden and Denmark and providing temporary residence instead of permanent residence to refuges that are coming here in order to make Sweden less attractive to who wish to come here. (Aftonbaldet: 2015). To make it clearer for the reader terms such as migration, integration, segregation, social hinders will be defined below.
2.1.1 Migration
Migration is the movement of people from a country to another. People move from their countries due to several factors as war, conflicts, torture, death penalty, economic integration or romance. Migration can be as well a result of people seeking refuge for education in another country or labour. According to the Swedish migration agency migration can be positive for development for both the host country and the country people are migrating from. (Migrationsverket: 2014)
2.1.2 Integration
Acculturation is “the process whereby individuals learn about the rules and behaviour characteristics of another culture” (Hogg and Vaughan 2010:329). Immigrant’s behaviour can be classified into four categories as Canadian Social psychologist has identified acculturation. The acculturation process is relevant to integration if one does not learn the host countries culture and rules and the integration will be a hard process for the person for wants to get integrated. In order to get a successful acculturation process immigrant needs to choose his or her own category from these four categories that are presented below:
“Integration- maintaining home culture but also relating to dominant culture:
Assimilation- giving up home culture and embracing dominant culture;
Separation-maintaining home culture and being isolated from dominant culture;
Marginalization -giving up home culture and failing to relate properly to dominant culture” (Hogg and Vaughan 2010:330).
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The relevant category for Somali immigrants in this case will be the integration category in order to get a successful acculturation process. The integration process needs substantial time and patience and sometimes it can clash with the host country’s expectation since most host countries would prefer immigrants to adopt fully their culture, the assimilation process mentioned above (Ibid). Ager and Stranger(2004) did a study in the United Kingdom about refugees and indicators of integration. In their definition of integration they argued that an individual or a group of immigrants are integrated when they fulfil certain goals such as employment, education, public outcomes, health etc. They did a comparison on what the native citizens and the immigrants have achieved in terms of education, employment and having good health and housing all these indicators plays a great roll in integration process (Ager and Stranger 2004:9). It is important to understand integration from different perspective in order one to choose the best way to get integrated into society.
In the article called Benchmarking immigrant integration that was written by Entzinger and Biezeveld, they defined integration as a concept that is implemented in several areas preferably within sociology discipline. The authors argue that integration is a social cohesion and a society is integrated when all parties of its constituent are related to one another. The authors further suggest that the more contacts immigrants have with natives the more an understanding and integrated society will be in place (Entzinger and Biezeveld: 2003)
Another definition of integration was provided by the European Union that integration is a two-way process in which both groups (immigrants and host country) do not need to discard their cultural identity but rather keep their own cultural identity at the same time adjust to each other’s culture in order both groups to add mutual dimension to their identity. (Bijl and Verweij 2012:34). Swedish integration policy is based on everyone’s “equal rights, obligations and opportunities for all regardless of ethnic or cultural backgrounds.” (Bijl and Verweij 2012:35). However, the Swedish integration policy maintains as well to issues such as human rights, democracy equality between men and women.
Revisiting all definitions of integration one can see a similar conclusion or at least a number of shared factors that can be called integration. Some see integration as having a job, education and being part of the society, while others will argue that integration will involve also interactions with the local or natives. However, there are several integration
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indicators for instance economic integration, social integration, and cultural integration, legal and political integration (Bijl and Verweij 2012:34) that need to be taken into consideration in order to understand and tackle integration challenges.
2.1.3Cultural integration
One of the main indicators of integration is called cultural integration which does not automatically mean a fully assimilation process. It rather means that immigrants adjust to the host culture while keeping their own culture. This indicator of integration has been discussed to be a difficult indicator to achieve since it requires a great commitment. European Union (EU) immigrants that migrate to Sweden will have fewer issues in terms of culture since they have a similar culture while immigrants that are coming outside the EU will struggle with the integration process due to the need of cultural adjustment (Entzinger and Biezeveld: 2003:22). Most of immigrants especially those coming from the developing countries have difficulties understanding what the host country has for expectations E.g. most countries in the EU, Sweden for instance try to separate the church from the state and consider other issues such as the equality between men and women, important which will be difficult for some immigrants to cope with when they arrive to Europe (Ibid). Cultural integration is a very important indicator to be debated and discussed since it conflicts with other cultures that oppose the equality between men and women or women participation in labour market. This indicator is more important than even economic integration, both host culture and immigrants need to understand how important this dimension is with respect to integration policy and successful society (Ibid)
2.1.4 Segregation.
Segregation is referred to when groups of the same ethnic background live in the same area and are excluded from the rest of the society. Segregated areas often have people with low level of education and high rates of unemployed, which will lead to even further social exclusion (Lännstyrelsern:2016) . In Sweden for instance larger cities have a greater degree of segregation in terms of living situations where native swedes live in one area and immigrants live in other areas of the cities.
2.1.5 Discrimination.
One of other factors of segregation can be identified as clear discrimination when a group of immigrants is discriminated on ground of their skin colour, religion or name. According to a study that was done by Swedish researcher it has been shown that a person that has the name
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Maria Anderson has a better opportunity in getting a house and a job compared to someone that is called Mohammed Rashid (Ruist, 2016). Of course there are other factors that can play a role when it comes to employment but several researchers had shown that people which were born here but had parents that were born outside Sweden have lower chances in employment compared to native swedes (Ruist, 2016).
2.2 Literature review
Benny Carlson is an economic history professor at Lund University and has done research on economic and social integration of immigrants in Sweden for many years. Among other things he did research on Somalis labour market situation and a comparison on Somali Diasporas here in Sweden and in other countries such as the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK) and Canada (Carlson, et 2012). Carlson has noticed that factors such as the language will be a particular hinder for Somali immigrants in Sweden. Somalis that arrived in the US and the UK already had some knowledge in English language which will make it easier for them to integrate into those societies. The Somalis that came to Sweden will have to learn a completely new language which will take more time and effort, thus it will take it longer for the Somali people to get access to Swedish labour market. According to Carlson Somalis might have less integration problems or hinders in other countries (US&UK). Other factors that he mentioned that might hinder Somalis integration are education, time in the country and discriminations, unfortunately due to the negative picture that media reports and the employees can the wrong picture of Somali immigrants that live here in Sweden. (Carlson, et 2012:46).
The report of “Delaktighet för integration” (Berglund et al, 1999) that was written by the integration office (integrationsverket) to the government in 1999 has as well focused on this topic. The report looked closely into different factors that make it difficult for Somali immigrant’s integration in Sweden. Some of the factors that were included in this report were discrimination, level of education and the negative image of the Somali people that the media reports. The report was one of that was done at the end of 1999 and the report has shared other factors that the Carlson did mention. For example the report discussed about the media and how it can affect the Somalis integration through giving bad image or exaggerations. The report stated as well that the Somalis seldom were members of an organization or Non-governmental organizations (NGO) or associations (Berglund, et al 1999:26).
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Berglund et al noticed that factors such as where immigrants reside have played a big role in the integration process since most Somali can easily get a house where there are fewer Swedish speakers. This will increase segregation and decrease integration into Swedish society. The report mentioned that sometimes Somalis get limited opportunities when it comes to housing and job markets. It suggested that there are both advantages and disadvantages in living in the same areas as others ones ethnic group does. The advantages for instance are that the community feels secure and can get assistance from each other and one can feel being at home. The disadvantages with living in the areas that are dominated by immigrants are that one loses the outside contact of and the contact with Swedish speaking society and the society in general and this will lead to social exclusion. The report also mentioned another factor as hinder that makes Swedish employers not to employ Somalis, is how Somali women are dressed. Even though that women that have being interviewed in the report said that there is always a way to get adjusted with kind of job and having the hijab. They mostly do not get a job opportunity and these women argue that what the matters is what the person can and not what the person is wearing. (Berglund, 1999:26).
Open society foundation has also written a book called Somali in Malmö (Somalis in European Cities) with contributions among others and Carlson. This study makes quite a good comparison on Somalis that live in Sweden and other Somali Diasporas that lives in other European cities such as Copenhagen, Helsinki, London and Oslo. This was a macro-level study of integration topic with focus on the Somali group. The report explained that Somalis lower success in integration can be caused by factors such as discrimination and in general fall on vulnerable groups. “The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance and the Council of Europe’s human rights monitoring body argues that Afro-Swedish Muslims face twofold discrimination on account of both their colour or ethnicity and their religious beliefs”. (Carlson, 2014:50)
My interpretation to these previous pieces of research is that one can notice that there is a research gap due to micro-level analysis that is needed. This academic research will focus on what the Somali themselves need to do in order to get integrated or what they see as hinders in full integration into the Swedish society. The qualitative interview study on the targeted group will contribute something on current research on this subject. This study will not only focus on the formal factors of integration such as knowledge or skills but will also look into other factors such as social network, social organizations etc.
17 2.3 Relevance
It is very important to study this topic since Sweden has received so many Somali immigrants between 2012-2015.This was due to family reunifications which gave the Somali families lived here before an opportunity to reunite with the rest of their families. More than 10,000 Somali immigrants arrived in Sweden in 2013 (SCB, 2013). Hence, it is very important for this large group to integrate into Swedish society otherwise it will lead to further segregation and exclusion. Somali people are coming from a war torn and conflict country (BBC: 2016).It is important that these large group of Somali immigrants get a good reception from Sweden in terms of accommodation, education and housing in order to integrate into Swedish society. The results of this study will be beneficial to future studies/research since it finds out first whether there is any gap within the current or previous research that was done within this topic and suggests where the future research can focus on in order to understand the hindrances of integration for Somali community in Sweden. The researcher hopes that the outcome of this study will hopefully have a good influence to the current practices of integration. Since, those that are interested in integration might get a clear picture on the Somali obstacles to integrate into Swedish society. Last year Sweden has welcomed more refugees per capita compared to other countries in Europe. Thus, Sweden faced problems in accommodating the large number of people who arrived with short period of time. The refugee crisis has it consequences as well with burning of several refugee accommodations in Sweden and the rise of populist parties in Europe and in Sweden has remarkably noticed(Traub:2016). Integration is important to host countries as well since those that are accepted in the country must be contributing and give back something. For example, immigrants must get a job, paying taxes and undergo cultural adjustment. The researchers contribution on this topic is basically provide the Somalis experience with integration and the obstacles they face on daily bases.
2.4 Analytical framework
In order to analyse the empirical data, John Friedmann’s (Dis) Empowerment model will be used and its eight bases of social power will be applied. “Social power is the power associated with civil society; it is limited by contrasting forms of state, economic, and political power” (Friedmann, 1992:67). Friedmann’s (Dis) Empowerment focuses on the assumption that poor people lack social power in order to fulfil their basic needs (Ibid: 66).
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The (Dis) empowerment model concerns how to diminish poverty and to reach an alternative development. In this study the model will be applied in order to better understand integration issues. This study will be using Friedmann’ (Dis) Empowerment model and will connect the eight bases of social power to Somali immigrants integration experience in Sweden. Friedmann has classified household’s power into three social, political and psychological. Social power is related to the power of individual’s own production and in order for the person to be productive; the person needs to get access to “information, knowledge and skills, participation in social organizations and financial resource” (Ibid: 33). Political power is being active in the politics and getting the right to vote. Political power, involves the household’s participation in political decision especially those that affects their living conditions. Lastly is psychological power which has been defined as “an individual sense of potency” that can be established through self-confident attitude. A psychological power helps the individual in obtaining both social and political power (Ibid: 33).
Friedmann’s eight bases of social powers are presented below. 1) Defensible life space 2) Surplus time 3) Knowledge and skills 4) Appropriate information 5) Social organization 6) Social networks 7) Instrument of work and livelihood 8) Financial resources. (Friedmann, 1992:68). The (dis) empowerment model will be the framework that I will be using; hence all the bases of social power will be covered. Here are the clear definitions of all bases of social power.
1) Defensible life space- means that the real physical planetary that the households enjoy cooking, sleeping studying and grantees their individual needs. If looked this first base of social power it extends the space called “home”. The author clarifies how important is to a “permanent foothold in friendly and supportive urban neighbourhood is the most highly prized social power of all”(Friedmann, 1992:67).
2) Surplus time- is defined as the time that is available for the person and the household economy in general and the time that left after the household had secured their income or livelihood. This time is included the time spent on both paid and non-paid wages. This is the second most important social power (Ibid: 68).
3) Knowledge and skills which is the third most important social power is clarified been as human capital or human resources meaning the household educational advanced skills. Households with low knowledge and skills spend most of their time and capital in this social power in order to get improve their income and reach economic prosper (Ibid).
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4) Appropriate information- Is the information needed by the household in order to reach self-development. For instance the household needs the access to relevant information such as information about opportunities of wage-paying work and how to maintain good health. If the household does not get access to this social power then knowledge and skills will be inadequate (Ibid).
5) Social organizations- is signified to both the formal and informal organizations in that households or individuals can be a member in those organizations such as churches, sports clubs and neighbourhood improvements. Organizations not only benefit the person in terms of providing a pleasant life, but also provide a common action and support and it will give the person a good connection to the surrounding society (Ibid). 6) Social networks- the sixth base of social power that is important for self-sufficient
activities that are based upon mutuality. Social networks increase ones capacity to be a member in social organizations. Households that have horizontal networks with family and friends have greater opportunity compared to households that do not have this (Ibid).
7) Instrument of work and livelihood- the seventh bases of social power is directed towards individual’s means of production where factors such as health, means of transportation and other facilities play great role (Ibid).
8) Financial resources- the final social power is the source of income that the households or individuals have(ibid:69)
The eight bases of social powers that are mentioned above are distinct at the same time are interdependent in each other. This can be interpreted that when one social power is achieved it may lead to the achievement of another. However these eight bases of social power can be summarized into one dimension such as capital, which can be defined to be the essential of” households empowerment”, but these eight social powers are independent of each other (Friedmann 1992:69). “Relative access is a measure of the extent to which household command the basic resources for their self-development” (Friedmann 1992:69). The individual in the household’s works hard in order to get an easier access to the bases of social power and this is a part of self-reliant process and is somehow political. Therefore the individuals require a technical and financial assistance from the government in order to reach or fulfil the eight bases of social power and self-development (Friedmann 1992:69).
20 3- Methodological framework.
3.1 Methodology
This part of the thesis will introduce the methods used by the author in order to undertake this study and ethical considerations that were taken into mind as well how the outcomes were implied and analysed. This part will as well present a critical analysis of the sources that were implemented in order to make this research possible.
This paper is taking a point of departure on method of abduction, which is referred to as a mode of inference. Abduction is defined as a scientific inference that involves re-descriptions or re-contextualization. Abduction mode is further explained by using exciting framework in order to present a further explanation or wider perspective of a targeted phenomenon. (Danermark et al 2002:89). Therefore, abduction is used to “interpret and re-contextualize individual phenomenon within a conceptual framework or a set of ideas” (Ibid, 80). This means that abduction is capable of understanding things in a new way, thus by observing and an interpreting things through a new conceptual framework (Ibid, 80). A clear difference from between deduction and abduction is that “deduction proves that something must be in a certain way while abduction shows that how something might be”(Ibid, 91).
Furthermore, in this research abduction is used in order to increase the understanding of integrations hinders and problems of the Somali immigrants that live in Sweden. Hence this will help as well to present a clear understanding on what the Somali themselves see as hinder in order to get in contact with Swedish labour market. By the help of the analytical framework provide the good explanation what the real problem is on the bases of micro-level analysis. The researcher is unsatisfied with previous knowledge according to Somalis integration problem and thus, re-conceptualization is needed and therefore abduction is the possible relevant epistemological approach.
Qualitative study is described as a study that often highlights words instead of quantification in order to gather and analysis data (Bryman, 2016:374). Another definition is provided by Creswell (2014) that qualitative research is a method for discovering and understanding the individual or a group’s perception to attribute human or social issues (Creswell, 2014:4) Creswell (2014) argues that qualitative method is a constructivist worldview where ethnographic design and behavioural observation is included. Furthermore, authors in qualitative study pursue to create the explanation of the targeted phenomenon from the perceptions of the participants. In order to collect to data the researcher is required to do
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an open-ended interviewing. Thereby, participants will be interviewed in order to get what they individually experienced cornering the topic of the research (Creswell, 2014:19). Meanwhile Quantitative method is a “post-positivist” worldview that evolves experimentation procedures and before and after measurement of attitudes. In Quantitative approach data is gathered by using a tool that will measure attitudes and then the data that is gathered will be analysed by applying a statistical and hypothesis testing approach (Ibid). However, for the research topic qualitative method is suitable concerning the subject. The qualitative and the abductive method will not be used to provide answers to the research problem rather to provide a wider explanation in this problem.
3.2 Methods and technique
The study s aims at undertaking in-depth research on the specific topic of integration of the specific group (Somali immigrants) in order to increase the understanding of the targeted group’s problems concerning integration into Swedish society. Moreover qualitative study is the most suitable in undertaking this research work since it collects information from the individual’s perspective on the topic of research. (NSF2002:42) In this case a desk study is not suitable rather than a qualitative study is conducted, since the researcher is after the individual’s accounts of their experiences about their perceptions. Qualitative includes interviews, observations and good research skills and take good supervision in order to get a truth-worthy data. In qualitative study interview is important to acquire the primary data sources since this is a field study.
Implementation of an interview method as means of data collection for this research takes a point of departure from the participant’s perspective is knowledgeable, significant and can be made clear and their perspectives can successful influence the research topic. There are several types of interviews that can be conducted from focus groups to individual personal interviews and in this case personal interviews was taken into consideration and the researcher was focusing on understanding the problem in a new way in order to produce in a new explanation. The researcher did not include the employers and other organizations to the interviews as this study focuses on micro-level of Somali immigrants. This means that getting information from this target group in order to understand and what they point out as obstacles to the integration process and what they feel they seem to lack was more important than the perceptions of people from outside the target group.
22 3.3 Semi- structured interviews.
The researcher prepared a semi-structured interview guide for this qualitative filed study research since it was the most suitable procedure in order to collect a reliable data relevant for the topic. The semi-structured procedure provides open-ended questions where informants can get the chance to answer freely and can fully express themselves. This kind of interviews is usually done once and it can take time duration of around 30min to one hour depending on how many questions the researcher had prepared. This type of the interview can be done in-group or individually. (Jamshed: 2014) and the researcher has chosen to do it individually since the researcher is mostly interested in individuals experience in the integration process into the Swedish society. The analytical framework of social power by Friedmann was kept in mind while asking the questions to informants since the underlying of analysis in coming chapters.
3.4 Example of informants
The interviews took place in Växjö municipality, which has many people with Somali origins living here. Before conducting the interviews, the researcher took into consideration issues that are relevant to this topic and can, provide the best answer with respect to the topic of the research. The informants that were included in the interviews were different people although most of them were from the targeted groups i.e. Somalis. The researcher interviewed informants with different genders and ages in order to investigate the obstacles of integration process from different perspectives and different experiences. Furthermore, some of the informants have actually integrated well in the society and have jobs while others are still struggling to come in to the society. Eklund (2012) argues that the informants it has to be people that can give the most reliable and detailed information on what the research topic is about. Eklund further suggest that the informants must have the ability to express them-selves freely and be engaged in the subject of the discussion. (Eklund: 2012:2). The Author has taken these issues into consideration since the author wants to produce the most reliable information.
When selecting the people of interest for the research the author included people that are of different ages because of within the target group they have different experience in integration process. The author has also included other than the target some key members of the majority group that are interested or work in the integration process and these people represent different governmental organizations in Växjö municipality. Because the author
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considered them key members for this study, since they contribute their experience with the targeted group in terms of the integration into Swedish society.
After considering who to interview the researcher decided to start contacting potential informants in order to proceed with the interviews. The choosing method was the author want to have three different groups in this study, those who are integrated, those who are not integrated and those who work with organizations that are engaged in integration. The researcher contacted them with e-mail and then booked for appointment with respect to their daily schedule. When contacting the informants the researcher mailed them the aim of the research so that everyone was aware and got a picture on how the interview was going to look alike. The researcher thought it was difficult to get in contact with officials at the integration department but as soon as the researcher established contact everything went as planned and interviews were conducted. I should emphasise that the time and resources allowed for this study clearly limited the possibility to reach a larger group of interviewees. The possibility to generalise from this rather small sample of interviewees is therefore rather low.
3.5 The process of the interviews to grasp the primary empirical data.
The researcher has conducted the interviews at the informants working or living place since the researcher wanted the informants to feel comfortable when answering the questions and in order for them to provide reliable information. The place of the interview was not disturbing and it was peaceful so that the informants can feel at home and answer the questions without anyone disturbing (Eklund: 2012:2). The time of the interviews was in between 40mintues to 80mintues in some cases depending on the interviewee. The researcher tried to be as professional as possible and patient when asking the questions in order to the interview to feel comfortable to answer the questions. The researcher asked open questions to the informants in accordance to the interview guide and keeping in mind the analytical framework for this study. But the author also gave the chance for further discussion on the topic of research and always asked informants how they thought about the interview and this subject and if they wanted to provide additional information at the end. All the informants agreed upon how important the subject of the research was especially to the targeted group. The informants of the targeted group did express their experience very well. The researcher was careful on not interfere or to add experience of his own while interviewing them since it will have an effect of their real experience and rather instead focused to the interview questions.
24 3.6 Ethical considerations
Ethical considerations that need to be considered will be the way the researcher will be interviewing the respondents and the researcher will obligation to inform them in the beginning that this is a bachelor thesis and that the researcher is not seeking money for integration project so it is clear for them the purposes of the research. All the questions in the research topic are quite sensitive and the author would ask them in respectfully way in order no tot offend them or not scare them away. And of course the researcher will inform them what will happen with the information that the author will get from them. And the researcher will let them know that they can be anonymous so that they do not get worried about the secrecy and that the interview were voluntary and was not obligatory. The researcher informed the informants that as soon the thesis is done, it would be accessible for them to read.
3.7 Coding and analysis of the outcomes.
When coding the researcher had in mind the information that was important for the research topic to be collected. While conducting the researcher tries to distinct both formal and informal barriers of the integration process since both will come up while coding the data and interviewing the informants. Thereby, the outcome of this topic will be defined in relation to the immigrants experience for the integration process and the results will be deduced and analysed with respect to the analytical framework.
One of the coding processes is collecting all the information that is provided by the informants however, all the relevant information to the topic of the research will be a place and it is the researcher’s duty to sort out the relevance information. (Creswell 2013:184). The author will record the interview in order not to miss out any important information but however this will be consulted with informants so that they feel comfortable and are willing to take part of this study. When coding the researcher divided the informants into three categories i.e. A, B and C groups in order to understand the topic from different angles and perspectives. Group A is representing the ones that are not integrated into Swedish society which are outside the society. Group B is representing the Somali immigrants that have successful integrated to Swedish society. And the last group is representing three people from the majority group that work with governmental organizations that are engaged in helping the immigrants to integrate to Swedish society.
25 3.8 Validity and Reliability of this study.
Validity in qualitative research is that the author overlooks the accuracy of the outcomes through employing certain procedures. Meanwhile the reliability of qualitative study indicates that the author “is consisted across different researchers and different projects”. (Creswell, 2014, 201). According to Creswell validity is considered to be the strength of qualitative study and this case determined if the outcomes of the study are accurate from the standpoint of the participants, the author or the readers of an account (Ibid, 201). Creswell (2014) provides in his book different strategies that the author can choose in order to make sure validity and reliability are fulfilled. For instance, Creswell (2014) mentioned triangulate strategy which is “different data sources of information by examining evidence from the sources and it to build a coherent justification for themes (Ibid, 201). The researcher used this method after gathering information checked it with other sources in order to fulfil this strategy. Creswell (2014) also mentioned the clarifying the bias strategy and this means that the researcher might bring bias to the study. “This self-reflection creates an open and honest narrative that will resonate with the readers” (Ibid, 202). The author was careful in not putting his own experience and reflections into the topic, especially when interviewing the informants since the researcher want their position on this topic of research.
Reliability, Creswell (2014) suggests that to take the transcripts and check them careful in order to avoid mistakes that will make the study unreliable. When conducting the interviews the author recorded off course with the permission of the informants and the author was careful when handling the data collected from the interviews and avoid mistakes at all times. However there can be limitations in this part of the research since the researcher is doing this kind of qualitative research for the first time. The research was organized very well and has followed in accordance to interview guides and academic researcher advice in doing this kind of research.
3.9 Criticism of the sources.
This qualitative study has both primary and secondary sources, for instance the primary sources are mostly the interviews that the researcher has conducted and the author obtained other observation in order to perform this study. Meanwhile the secondary sources are the mostly previous literature, reports, documents and academic articles, which has been already discussed by other authors.
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The informants (including both Somali immigrants and personnel from the governmental organization) are the main primary sources for this study. The purpose of the study is to see their own perspective of Somali immigrant’s integration in Sweden. Thereby the study wants to grasp the micro-level analysis in order to find out the integration obstacles for this group. However there can be a limitation of this study since they may not provide completely honest answers, in order to avoid peer pressure and getting inadequate answers the researcher used individual interview method for the targeted group, which gave more reliable answers to the interview questions that they have been asked. The researcher has as well the ethical issues in mind in order to avoid getting unreliable answers and made the informants as comfortable as possible.
Meanwhile the secondary sources involved previous literature, published documents and academic articles that are all relevant for the study. Academic scholars and university professors that are well known among the Swedish society wrote most of the literature that has been used in this study. Articles and published documents are all found in university websites and academic websites, which give a high reliability and validity status. However the limitation of the study can be expressed in terms of the literature review since they were quite limited and not all were latest and some information can be missed and therefore the researcher made additional observation in order not to miss out important information.
27 4. Findings
There were twelve people that have been interviewed during this study. Four of the informants represent Swedish governmental organizations such as a university, Växjö municipality and Swedish employment agency. The other group, which consisted of eight people, were Somali immigrants that have lived in Sweden for equal period of time. The author has divided the Somali immigrants into two groups in order to make a comparison of interview results. The two groups are those that are integrated into Swedish society and those who are still struggling to come into the Swedish society. There are influential factors both formal and informal social barriers that contribute to the challenges of integration that will all be covered in this chapter. The researcher will use a code instead of names while presenting their answers and views to protect their identity especially the Somali immigrants since the subject is a sensitive to some people. The informants information see appendix 8.2.
4.1 Education
Knowledge is power and education is the key to successful integration in a country such as Sweden where even cleaning the toilet requires a diploma. Many immigrants have it very difficult to understand the Swedish education system. Somalis are always mentioned in reports that they are the least integrated immigrants among all other immigrants here in Sweden (Abdirahman et al, 2011: 12). Most of the Somalis that are arrived after 1990s to Sweden have low educational level since there is no functioning government that can secure a good quality of education in Somalia (OSF, 2014:67).
Newly arrived Somali immigrants gets the chance to stud Swedish via the course called Swedish for immigrants (SFI) for around 3hrs per day and the rest of the day they are expected either to look for jobs or attend internship programs in order to learn more Swedish or to practice the Swedish language. But some of the informants that the researcher has interviewed see these programs as a waste of time and they will love to attend more Swedish classes instead of attending internship programs. The SFI course is divided into four levels A, B, C,D. (Ibid:69)A is the lowest class while D is the highest class and it requires usually that one must have at least C course in order to get a job. The municipality usually expects immigrants to complete all four levels within a limited timeframe of two to three years.
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Most of the informant’s in-group C has not completed their SFI course and the best have reached up to the C-level and left school in order to look for a job. All the informants have agreed that education plays a great role when it comes to integration. Carlson argues Somalis who came to Sweden have low educational level either primary education or unknown education. All participants in group C shared the same mentality that were not given enough time to learn the Swedish language and some of them argue that they were kicked from school when they began to understand the Swedish language. Immigrants cannot stay in SFI for more than 2years is a rule that is set up by the government that SFI hours should be 525hrs which can take place up two years. (Riksdag: 1994). This is one of the formal obstacles of the integration for the (Somali) immigrants in Sweden. Providing more teaching Swedish classes was agreed upon as desirable for all groups but group C pushed strongest saying it is important for the integration process and without the language one cannot reach anything in this country since it will be difficult to communicate with people around you. Informant 4 mentioned that when both parents are educated it is more likely that their children will get higher education since they get support from their family. Children of parents with lower education are however more likely to end up in getting low education as well.
4.2 Validation of documents
The Swedish government does not recognize any official documents from Somalia after the civil war in 1990. The documents that are not recognized by Swedish government are passports, certificates, diplomas, birth certificates etc. The main argument for not recognizing Somali documents is, according to the Swedish government that there is no central government, which can provide these documents. (EMN: 2014:12). This is another formal hinder for integration for the Somali community since their identity cannot be identified and their documents from their country are useless when they come to Sweden. All informants have expressed this as it is being a huge obstacle of Somalis integration. One of the integrated informants has done his high school studies in Somalia but when he came here he was told that his education and high school diploma is invalid and he had to repeat three years of high school. The time that was needed for successful integration would have been shorter if his high school certificate had been recognized (Informant #6). “Here in Sweden we are very bad at validating foreign documents to Swedish and that we have to admit and become better in validation since it is an integration obstacle”. (Informant #2). OECD (2015) have highlighted
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as well the problem of validation exists in Sweden and it needs to be effective and working in order to validate immigrant’s education (OECD: 2015).
4.3 Welfare system
The generous Swedish welfare system has been seen as hinder of integration to some of the informants that have taken part in this study since it leads to the person being less willing to seek a job. Most of the informants in Group A which are from the majority(Swedish) have mentioned this and some in group B that are integrated into Swedish have agreed to this as well. “The Swedish welfare system that we have here in Sweden is not found in other countries such as the US”(Informant 2).This informant means that most segregated people get enough in welfare benefits that they do not need to look for jobs. The fourth informant mentioned the same that the Swedish welfare system might lead to segregation since people with many children get more welfare and child benefits that will cover up their needs, thereby they will not stretch that much to look for a job (Informant #4) Informant #4 also mentioned that if both parents live on welfare it would be more likely that children will not bother to look for job or higher education since they will think that is better to live on welfare than earning one’s own income. Informant #5 who is well integrated in Swedish society suggests the same as she mentioned that Somali immigrants with large families are the ones that usually have difficulties with integration and they do not bother to do that much since they get enough welfare which might even be better than working.
In Sweden when you have being out of work for long time you will get the opportunity to get help to find a job and the employer will get help from the Swedish employment agency which will pay more than half of immigrants salary and the rest will be paid by the company that hires the jobless person. (AF: 2016) However most of the unemployed informants think that this system is waste of time since the salary is a minimum wage and the period of working is too short. Sometimes one can only get a one year contract and then be let go and this group think it is better to stay at home and get enough welfare benefits that is higher than the minimum wages especially for larger families with many children.
Group B (integrated immigrants) argues that the so called new start job with the minimum wages will help get a foothold into Swedish labour market which will give the chance to show what you are really worth. The informant # 5 says that her current job was via the help of Swedish employment agency with the minimum wage and then after two years working there she became a permanent staff. According to her hard work paid off.
30 4.4 Culture
“It is very important that immigrants keep their culture and traditions but it also important that immigrants learn the new culture and traditions in the host country. People usually have more similarities than differences and through openness and knowledge it is possible to overcome the culture and social barriers” (Dirie et al, 2013: 156). Of the interviewed most segregated Somali immigrants, no one knew anything about the Swedish culture and all still struggled to learn. Some were more eager to learn than others. While the integrated groupthinks that immigrants need to undertake cultural adjustment process in order to come into Swedish society at the same time one is keeping his culture and tradition. “When in Rome do as Romans do” It is an English idiom that means one needs to behave like the people in host country behave and this will make it easier for the immigrant person to interact with the locals. One will have something in common to share and talk about and it will lead to more contacts and will provide more social network to immigrant person (Informant #6). Most of the interviewees in the non-integrated group do not have Swedish friends and are not a member of any social organizations in the community. Meanwhile the integrated groups have at least some Swedish friends that they often meet and “Fika”. This will provide them with more contacts in the society. Informant #5 told the researcher that Somalis often chose to stay in their culture, she took an example with job coachers, and they prefer to have a Somali job coach rather than having Swedish one because of the language and coming from the same culture background. They will automatically think that the Somali person will understand him/her better. This informant told the author that when she was a newcomer she chose to have Swedish job coach which took short time for her to get internship and then a job, but most of those Somali newcomers who chose the Somali job coaches do not get a job until today according to this informant (Informant#5).She continues saying that the native job coach has many contacts in the society, which will make it for them easier to get a job.
The informant #4 sees the Somalis culture as a hinder of integration and Somalis do need to understand that a cultural adjustment is part of the integration process. This informant is originally from Somalia and has lived in this country for a long time and has adopted the Swedish culture and mentality. The informant mentioned that Somalis have a collectivism culture while Sweden has an individualism culture, meaning that a jobless person will not a take a job as cleaner because he/she thinks that she will be underestimated within the Somali community rather than thinking having own income and independent from
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welfare. This informant has as well mentioned that Somalis are oral speaking people not familiar with writing papers in government institutions which most of the Somali find it difficult. Furthermore, in Sweden one gets information through papers while Somalis are used to with get information from friends and families through telephones or talking to each or listening to the radio and not reading newspapers. In Sweden every institution requires you to fill in forms which most Somalis see as a problem and waste of resources (Informant #4) Informant 10 has mentioned the Somali style of clothing by wearing the Muslim “Hijab” is seen as some kind of not being Swedish. She says that Somali women are discriminated in the labour market because of their religious beliefs. Somali women are judged and met according to their clothes and Swedish people think that covered women do have less knowledge (Informant #10).Another thing is that every job requires a diploma even if one wants to work as a janitor or want to work in a restaurant. For instance the UK and the US, they are interested in what you can and not on how many diplomas you have or how you are dressed. In Sweden there is a lack of simple jobs and taxes are very high so employers do not easily employ people because it will cost them very much since the governments presses the employers to pay a lot of taxes depending on how many employees the company has. (Informant # 6)
For Somalis, culture and clans have a special importance, before they can integrate into Swedish society they have to properly integrate with each other overcoming the paramount of family and clan. Informant#10 has mentioned that if a Somali entrepreneur becomes successful here in Sweden he or she will mostly likely hire his/her own clan members since they feel secure that the clan member will not cheat and this is an issue that Somali diaspora took to Sweden, which is another, hinder of integration. (Informant #10). Carlson mentioned that it is in Somalis culture to be stuck with old memories thinking about the country and having coffee with country men in the meeting places and think about how they lived before they came to Sweden instead of moving forward and meeting Swedish people.
4.5 Housing segregation and school segregation
Housing segregation and school segregation in Sweden is a huge problem local and national politicians seem to ignore this issue, which can be seen as contradiction to integration process. It is often debated that immigrants chose to live in so called “ghetto” areas or an immigrant prefers to live among their countrymen, but this is not the case always. Immigrants are forced to live in these areas since it is the only place that they can find a home. Somali immigrants
